So I jumped in the deep end and bought myself a 22-year-old Mercedes W124, sedan.It`s the 6 cylinder Diesel. (I think a lot of Europeans would recognize it as a taxi).

Why?I don`t drive much (I fly a lot for work) so the not so modern consumption is no issue, I always loved the W124 shape; AND the engine sound is absolutely classic.A million KM is not uncommon for the W124 and its durability is hard to match.

Where?At a specialist. This guy is an expert in finding the very best "young Timers" in Europe. His hunting ground is mainly Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

How is it?Great! It has almost all the luxurious options, the engine and the gear box are smooth and it is a very comfortable ride.Just went to my local dealer for a bit of TLC for the first time, and they were impressed with the state that it`s in!

It is a Mopf2, the last version of the W124 series.I just love the looks of the 1985 version,the Mopf0; but I wanted the electric options of the 1995 version.

So I converted here to the 1985 (Mopf0) looks, with a diiferent color:

For comparison:

After a nice wash:

The people in the know notice that the door handles are not originally from the Mopf0 etc, and there are more discrepancies.But I am happy with the result.

Any more Mercedes owners on this forum? New? Old?It would be nice to interchange experiences.

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For anybody that happens to be wondering:"yes, owning your own aircraft is a 100% worth it!"

Good choice and nice work on the car! Nothing beats the durability of the old Benzers.

My (not so old) W203 is still going strong. It was used quite much for my construction site visits lately - I owe him a nice car wash badly.

I remember your old thread. 18 months later I can happily attest that my W203 is not affected by rust as much as the first generation of W203 and W211 (the contemporaneous E-class model, a.k.a as the car that already rusted in the catalogue...) were.

what a nice car.there used to be a lot of those old Mercs here around, during the nineties. sadly only a handful of them survive today.myself, I came so close to buy a Modf2 W124 200 cabrio automatic - blue over blue - some ten years ago, but then I opted for an AR 164 Cloverleaf being since a long time an Alfista.of the W124 Baureihe the nicest one is the Coupé imho, with the 300-24 in-line six engine.the 2,9D engine you've bought is one of the toughest engines in the world - you can't kill one even with a missile would love to see some pic of the interiors

The little vents on the turbodiesel W124 are racy. Quite rare to see in the US. I saw one in Long Island City last year. I saw a nice gasoline W124 in my area for $3200 last year and regret not buying it. It is an antique now, and still a great Benz. The few nice ones available are worth saving. When only people with class wanted or could afford a Mercedes Benz.

I’m not, but a friend of mine is a Mercedes tragic. E-class, B class and until it got crashed into a 1991 W126 420SEL that was extremely pristine.

The 420 was basically reliable and very comfortable to travel in, but if anything went wrong parts were very expensive! Although they were easy to obtain and the mechanicals of the car are simple enough.

Flighty wrote:

The little vents on the turbodiesel W124 are racy. Quite rare to see in the US. I saw one in Long Island City last year. I saw a nice gasoline W124 in my area for $3200 last year and regret not buying it. It is an antique now, and still a great Benz. The few nice ones available are worth saving. When only people with class wanted or could afford a Mercedes Benz.

People with class? Saddam Hussein - 560SEL.

Although Benz cars of that time are considered from the golden era, the owners consisted of many undesirable types, be it dictators or bottom of the harbour fraudsters.

Good choice and nice work on the car! Nothing beats the durability of the old Benzers.

I remember your old thread. 18 months later I can happily attest that my W203 is not affected by rust as much as the first generation of W203 and W211 (the contemporaneous E-class model, a.k.a as the car that already rusted in the catalogue...) were.

Thanks! Shame the old thread was killed off.My car is parked every night next to a silver W203 BTW.Nice!

FatCat wrote:

what a nice car.there used to be a lot of those old Mercs here around, during the nineties. sadly only a handful of them survive today.myself, I came so close to buy a Modf2 W124 200 cabrio automatic - blue over blue - some ten years ago, but then I opted for an AR 164 Cloverleaf being since a long time an Alfista.of the W124 Baureihe the nicest one is the Coupé imho, with the 300-24 in-line six engine.the 2,9D engine you've bought is one of the toughest engines in the world - you can't kill one even with a missile would love to see some pic of the interiors

Thanks!They are reliable indeed.....they are not called "the 1 million km model" for nothing.It didn`t have the leather option, but it`s the original upholstery:

Flighty wrote:

The little vents on the turbodiesel W124 are racy. Quite rare to see in the US. I saw one in Long Island City last year. I saw a nice gasoline W124 in my area for $3200 last year and regret not buying it. It is an antique now, and still a great Benz. The few nice ones available are worth saving. When only people with class wanted or could afford a Mercedes Benz.

For the orignal series, only the 300 Turbo used to get the vents.From 1993 onwards, the vents came with every 300D if I`m not mistaken.

cpd wrote:

the owners consisted of many undesirable types, be it dictators or bottom of the harbour fraudsters.

I guess I tick all those boxes......

Dutchy wrote:

Looks almost new, good job!

How many km's are on it?

188.400km, only; now in January 2019.

No Tax On Rotax

For anybody that happens to be wondering:"yes, owning your own aircraft is a 100% worth it!"

I’m not, but a friend of mine is a Mercedes tragic. E-class, B class and until it got crashed into a 1991 W126 420SEL that was extremely pristine.

The 420 was basically reliable and very comfortable to travel in, but if anything went wrong parts were very expensive! Although they were easy to obtain and the mechanicals of the car are simple enough.

Flighty wrote:

The little vents on the turbodiesel W124 are racy. Quite rare to see in the US. I saw one in Long Island City last year. I saw a nice gasoline W124 in my area for $3200 last year and regret not buying it. It is an antique now, and still a great Benz. The few nice ones available are worth saving. When only people with class wanted or could afford a Mercedes Benz.

People with class? Saddam Hussein - 560SEL.

Although Benz cars of that time are considered from the golden era, the owners consisted of many undesirable types, be it dictators or bottom of the harbour fraudsters.

To me, one of the old 300TE 4Matic had more class than today's S65AMG or G63AMG ever could. Of course you're right that many rich people are terrible, but at least they had a classy car that was meant for classy people. Today, Mercedes are actually cheaper than they were in 1985, in the US. Inflation adjusted, they cost around half. They are mass market cars now; not special in any way. Their competitor is Honda and I am not sure they build a better car than Honda does. Sit in both and compare paintwork in both. They are equivalent.

Or, in the case of AMG they seem to be striving for nightclub vulgarity. It's not something they did in the golden period. The pictures this thread are better than anything they sell today.